The five most popular stories in the past 24 hours, according to NewsPulse.

Man in disguise boards international flight: Canadian authorities are investigating an "unbelievable" incident in which a passenger boarded an Air Canada flight disguised as an elderly man, according to a confidential alert obtained by CNN.

[Updated at 10:23 p.m.] Three suspected criminals and two members of the Mexican navy died in a clash that also left dead a top leader of the Gulf drug cartel, said Alejandro Poire, security spokesman for the Mexican government.

[Posted at 9:38 p.m.] Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillan, a leader of the Gulf Cartel, died Friday afternoon during a clash with security forces in the border city of Matamoros, Mexico's state media reported.

A 600-yard tunnel used to smuggle drugs between San Diego, California, and Tijuana, Mexico, was discovered this week through the efforts of a little-known law enforcement coalition called the Tunnel Task Force.

Comprised of agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol, the Tunnel Task Force has closed 75 tunnels in the past four years, officials said.

“We fill them with concrete,” said Border Patrol Agent Steven Pitts.

Pitts said the tunnels are elaborately constructed, with lighting, ventilation and, in some cases, a rail system to pull large amounts of drugs through the tunnels.

“An active phone was the strangest thing we’ve ever found in a tunnel,” said Pitts.

The task force functions with a high level of cooperation from the Mexican government, whom DEA Special Agent Stephen Tomaski credited with making the busts possible.

U.S. stocks wavered Friday but ended with slight gains, as investors digested a strong jobs report at the end of a week full of big economic news. All three major indexes closed at fresh two-year highs and the Dow and S&P logged their biggest weekly gains in more than two months.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 9 points, or 0.1 percent, to end at 11,444, the highest close since Sept. 8, 2008. The blue chip index jumped 2.9 percent during the week.

Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for killing an unarmed man.

A former California transit police officer was sentenced Friday to two years with credit for time served for killing an unarmed man, in what a lawyer for the victim's family called "a punch in the stomach."

Johannes Mesherle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in July for shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant on an Oakland train platform on January 1, 2009. With its verdict, the jury declined to convict him of second-degree murder or voluntary, which would have carried lengthier sentences.

Lawyers for the gay group seeking a repeal of the military ban on openly gay troops serving in the military have asked the Supreme Court Friday to reinstitute a recent ruling to immediately stop the military ban.

Edgar Renteria has a World Series MVP trophy, but he doesn't have a team.

The San Francisco Giants on Friday declined to pick up their $10.5 million option to keep Renteria for the 2011 season, according to MLB.com. The team exercised its right to buy out the option with a $500,000 payment to the 34-year-old shortstop.

Renteria had a rough season but came up big during the playoffs and World Series, batting .412 and hitting a three-run home run off Texas ace Cliff Lee in Monday's Game 5 that sealed the Rangers' fate.

The five-time All-Star played in just 72 regular-season games in 2010 and had openly discussed retirement, so the Giants' move Friday was not unexpected, MLB.com reported.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who will lose her position as speaker of the House when the new Republican majority takes over in January, used her Twitter account Friday to announce she will seek to continue to lead the Democratic caucus.

U.S. Marines participate in military exercises at Australia's High Range Training Area near Townsville in October.

The United States and Australia will step up their military cooperation, with Canberra offering U.S. forces increased access to Australian bases, according to news reports from Australia.

The increased cooperation will be announced Monday after talks between U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and their Australian counterparts, according to reports in The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald.

The U.S. will not be getting new bases in Australia, but will have full access to Australian facilities, including "a share in all processes, such as access to intelligence and maintenance facilities," The Australian reported, citing unnamed sources close to the defense talks.

Auburn quarterback Cam Newton (2) is a leading contender for the Heisman Trophy, college football's biggest award.

Just when you'd forgotten about the various scandals rocking college football comes another one bigger and badder than the last.

ESPN.com reported Thursday that a man representing Auburn star and Heisman favorite Cam Newton had allegedly sought a six-figure payment to secure the quarterback's national level of intent last year.

Former Mississippi State quarterback John Bond told ESPN.com that a former teammate of his, Kenny Rogers, requested $180,000 from the school in exchange for Newton's selecting Mississippi as the school he would transfer to from junior college. Mississippi State declined the offer and reported Rogers to the SEC almost immediately.

Editor's Note: Learn about the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2010 and vote for the CNN Hero of the Year at CNNHeroes.com.

The clock gets rolled back an hour on Sunday for most of the United States and Canada with the end of daylight saving time.

If you’re like most of us, you’ll spend the extra hour on your pillow.

Here’s another idea: Use that hour to do something good.

It may not sound like much, but giving just an hour of your time can make a real difference in the world, whether it’s picking up trash at your local park, registering participants in a charity walk, volunteering at your child’s school or knitting a cap for a cancer patient.

A U.N. peacekeeper carries a child at a relocation center Thursday in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Tomas menaces Haiti

Already devastated this year by a killer earthquake and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti is bracing for Hurricane Tomas, which could dump 15 inches of rain and trigger deadly flash floods and mudslides.

Aid workers are already struggling to keep up with the cholera outbreak, which has killed nearly 450 people and hospitalized about 7,000 others. The bacterial disease causes diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to deadly dehydration within hours.

Workers are struggling to move thousands of people still living in tent camps to higher ground and away from coastal areas as the storm nears. Tomas became a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Haiti early Friday, forecasters said.

Germany's first female rabbi since WWII

Alina Treiger, 31, became the first female rabbi in Germany since World War II with her ordination Thursday, the German news outlet The Local reported.

Treiger, who was born in Ukraine but moved to Berlin, Germany, in 2001, was ordained before an audience that included 30 prominent rabbis from around the world, some of whom are women, the report said.

Treiger will lead the Jewish communities in the cities of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in Lower Saxony but will not be recognized as a rabbi by Orthodox Jews, who reject the ordination of women, according to The Local.

Regina Jonas, the last woman to be ordained a rabbi in Germany, died in 1944 at Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, the report said.

Hurricane Tomas is battering Haiti this morning with heavy rain and winds as high as 80 mph. More than a million earthquake survivors are still living in tent cities and scrambling for shelter. Michael Dockrey is with the International Medical Corps and gives "American Morning"’s John Roberts the latest from Port-au-Prince.

[Update 3:30 p.m. November 8, 2010] Michigan's liquor police won't have any trouble getting Smirnoff Raw Tea off store shelves; the product from Smirnoff, whose slogan is "Be There," hasn't been there for a year.

Smirnoff parent Diageo said it took the product off the market for commercial reasons in 2009 and should not have been included in the Michigan Liquor Control Commission's ban last week of all alcohol-fueled energy drinks.

And besides, Diageo said, it never marketed Smirnoff Raw Tea as an energy drink, nor does it promote any of its products as having "energizing, stimulating or invigorating properties." Just the regular properties that alcoholic beverages have.

[Original post] Michigan's Liquor Control Commission has banned the sale of alcohol energy drinks such as Four Loko, the caffeine-enhanced brew that sickened nine Central Washington University students at a party last month.

The commission issued the ban Thursday and gave retailers 30 days to clear 55 named products from their shelves. Among the brand names are 808, Joose, Smirnoff Raw Tea and Max.

"The commission's concern for the health, safety and welfare of Michigan citizens and the fact that there is not enough research to validate that these products are safe for consumption has made me believe that until further research is done by the [Food and Drug Administration], they should no longer be on Michigan shelves," commission Chairwoman Nida Samona said in announcing the ban.

A typical can of alcohol energy drink is 24 ounces and has a 12 percent alcohol content, compared with a 12-ounce can of beer, which normally has an alcohol content of 4 percent to 5 percent, the commission said.

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